Noting that communities and states all across America are working to achieve the first National Education Goal--by the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn--this paper provides information on efforts to meet that goal. The first portion of the paper presents a definition of readiness to learn devised by the Education Goals Panel that covers physical, emotional, language, and cognitive development, as well as approaches to learning. It then describes briefly several state programs to improve children's readiness, implemented at the infant as well as early childhood and preschool stages. This part also includes a checklist for evaluating childcare programs, and describes community and interagency collaborative efforts to ensure that those needing services can get them. The remainder of the document lists: (1) the policy recommendations of the National Governors' Association Task Force on Readiness dealing with education programs for at-risk children, parenting programs and in-home assistance for parents of high risk children, and structures that foster interagency cooperation; (2) contacts for programs mentioned in the text; (3) information on research and professional organizations; and (4) program referral and other sources of help as well as suggested readings. (HTH)